March 2019: Keeper Shelf
~ Elizabeth Coldwell ~
CTR asked:
Which book is at the top of your keeper shelf, the book you like to re-read over and over? And why?
Elizabeth Coldwell said:
The Secret History by Donna Tartt. My keeper books tend not to be romances – I enjoy reading those as much as I enjoy writing them, but I don’t often return to them once I’ve read them. Perhaps because it’s the genre I work in, both as a writer and editor – I’m so familiar with all the tropes and conventions, very little in romance surprises me any more. I need a contrast between work and pleasure, I think. It was the same when I was a student – after three years of an English Literature degree, I just wanted to read some light, frothy books because I’d been so deeply immersed in studying classic authors such as Dickens, Shakespeare and Jane Austen.
I love The Secret History because it’s a ‘whydunnit’, rather than a ‘whodunnit’ – you know from the very first page who’s dead and who killed them, but the reasons for the murder gradually unfold as the book goes on. Donna Tartt writes very convincingly as a male college student, and the storyline is a lot of fun as well as being complex and twisty. There’s a scene where the police visit the college where the story is set, and all the students start frantically disposing of their drugs stash so they won’t get caught with it, and that scene never fails to make me laugh. It’s a great contrast to some of the darker things that happen to the characters (and the book goes to some very dark places…) The BBC produced a really good audio version of the story a few years ago, read in nightly instalments, but unfortunately that was one of the scenes they cut when they condensed the book down.
Like all her books, it’s a real doorstop, and great for taking with you when you’re travelling. I first read it in the days before e-readers existed, and even now I treasure my paperback copy. The most memorable place I read it was when I was staying on a houseboat in Amsterdam – if you want to relax on vacation, it’s the kind of story you can really lose yourself in. And now I know Donna Tartt was at college with Brix Smith out of the Fall and they were good friends at the time, I need to read the book again to see if she based any of the characters on her…
– Website – http://elizabethcoldwell.wordpress.com
The Leprechaun Next Door
[Urban Fantasy Romance, MM]
Happiness might be waiting at the end of the rainbow, but will it come with a price?
Devon’s down on his luck—he’s lost his job and discovered his boyfriend is cheating on him. His neighbor, Johnny, is not only cute, he also has a big secret: he’s a leprechaun with a pot of gold… and the ability to grant wishes.
Can Devon wish his way out of the hole he’s found himself in? He’d like a new job, some revenge on his lying ex, and maybe even love. Johnny can give him what he wants, but it won’t come for free… or in the ways Devon expects. Can he trust a sexy leprechaun to help him make a new start and wish himself into the arms of the man of his dreams?
Available in Ebook:
More Authors Dish about their keeper shelves.
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